We’ll appeal judgment –Wike

The Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP), and the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike will appeal the judgment of the Riv­ers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which ordered fresh governorship election on the basis of the card reader ac­creditation during the election.
Addressing journalists after the judgment delivered by Jus­tice Suleiman Ambrosa of the Riv­ers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, Coun­sel to the PDP, Chris Uche (SAN), de­clared that Governor Nye­som Ezenwo Wike remains Governor until the appeal processes are exhausted.
He said the nature of the judgment deliv­ered by Justice Ambro­sa-led Tribunal makes appeal vital as the new posi­tion adopted by the tribu­nal must be tested in the in­terest of justice.
Uche noted that the tri­bunal’s reliance on card reader accreditation to nul­lify the governorship elec­tion when evidence was led by both the Respon­dents and the petitioners that both card reader and manual accreditation were used for the election re­quires testing at the Court of Appeal.
He noted that it was shocking that less than 24 hours after lawyers on all sides submitted nine writ­ten addresses and docu­ments, the Tribunal sent notice that judgment would be delivered on Sat­urday morning.
The lawyer informed that the tribunal was aware that the Su­preme Court judgment on the jurisdiction of the tri­bunal outside of Riv­ers State would be de­livered on Tuesday. He reminded that the tribunal had seven days to deliv­er its judgment, but chose to do so in less than two days.
In the Tribunal’s judg­ment, Justice Suleiman Am­brosa ruled that the card reader accreditation was vital to the election and the votes recorded. He said that the press statement issued by INEC on the matter super­sedes the Electoral Act as the card reader was a new introduction that was aimed to promote transparency.
He said on the balance of probability, he is inclined to believe the petitioner witnesses testified ahead of the witnesses of the Respon­dents.
The tribunal de­clared that testi­monies of the 56 witnesses called by the pe­titioner were enough to cover the entire state of 5,972 polling units and points.
Justice Ambrosa declared that the documents ten­dered by APC which the party failed to lead evi­dence in court were not dumped on it. He however said that the documents ten­dered by the Respondents were dumped on it and it would not attach weight to them.

credit; sun news